John Ford

My current sig, from The Searchers made me look into the phenomenal career of John Ford, I have of course been familiar with his films since childhood. He made some fantastic films.
{opps!! I already changed sigs :rolleyes: }

But here are just a few amazing facts about his work and links to much more about him.

Has won more directing Oscars than any other director: four, for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). He also won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subject for The Battle of Midway (1942) and an Oscar for Best Documentary for December 7th (1943).

Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Victor McLaglen, Thomas Mitchell, Edna May Oliver, Jane Darwell, Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Jack Lemmon. McLaglen, Mitchell, Darwell, Crisp and Lemmon won Oscar for one of their roles in one of Fords movies.

His style of film-making has been tremendously influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him one of the greatest directors of all time. When asked where he learned the craft of film-making, Welles famously replied, "the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford." Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Luc Godard.

John Ford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford)

John Ford (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000406/bio)

Yeah, jees, Ford has so many great films to his credit (between The Tornado in 1917 and Vietnam! Vietnam! in 1971) , I don't know where to start. He made a star out of John Wayne and is probably best known as a director of Westerns, but he really was very successful in a variety of genres.

So many great films in addition to the ones Oz mentioned:

. . . Arrowsmith (1931), Judge Priest (1934), The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), The Hurricane (1937), Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Long Voyage Home (1940), The Battle of Midway (1945), They Were Expendable (1945), My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Sun Shines Bright (1953), Mogambo (1953), Mister Roberts (1955), The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Donovan's Reef (1963)

And I am sure all or almost all of these fantastic films are on DVD.

Yeah, of those I listed, Sun Shines Bright is the only one you can't get on DVD (I suspect this is at least partly because of the decidely politically incorrect/racially insensitive jokes delivered by Stepin Fetchit (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0275297/), but aside from that it's a very good movie).

Yeah I personally adore John Ford. I know him mostly for his Westerns, which to me define everything I love about the American Western. His shooting style and visuals are incredible, his use of Monument Valley today defines all the visuals of the "stereo type" Western, the acting in his films is excelent. Most of all though it is his ingenuity that I find incredible, such an early figure in American film and he continuously produced original and groundbreaking films.

I must say my favourite Ford film is without question The Searchers, truely an incredible movie, it also doubles as my favourite Wayne movie.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/searchers.jpg

The visuals...

I must say my favourite Ford film is without question The Searchers, truely an incredible movie, it also doubles as my favourite Wayne movie.
Yeah, no question that's a great one. It strikes me as odd that none of his Oscars are for Westerns, considering how strongly associated with the genre he is.

The one I never tire of is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Jimmy Stewart of top form, John Wayne happy to play second fiddle for once, Lee Marvin spitting evil with every syllable, and Emund O'Brien giving the best performance I've ever seen from him.
"Print the legend!"

The John Ford Collection (http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Informer-Scotland-Cheyenne-Sergeant/dp/B000F0UUHS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-5502041-9860841?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1175203603&sr=1-2)is a pretty good cross section of Ford's work.

of the John Ford films I've seen, here's how I'd list them from my fav to least fav:

The Grapes of Wrath
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
My Darling Clementine
The Searchers
Drums Along the Mohawk (the only Ford film I've seen that I didn't really care for)

I really want to see Young Mr. Lincoln, Stagecoach, and The Quiet Man

he also was one of the several directors who worked on How the West Was Won... meh, that one was ok, not great

Try also to see Four Men And A Prayer (1938), a strangely disjointed but fascinating movie in which we're expected to believe that George Sanders, David Niven and Richard Greene were all the sons of C. Aubrey Smith. Anyhow, Loretta Young's in it, which always was good enough for me.

of the John Ford films I've seen, here's how I'd list them from my fav to least fav:


Drums Along the Mohawk (the only Ford film I've seen that I didn't really care for)


Really, wow, that's my favorite John Ford film. :) Henry Fonda is great and Edna Mae Oliver is just wonderful!

Really, wow, that's my favorite John Ford film. :) Henry Fonda is great and Edna Mae Oliver is just wonderful!

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm a history major and when it comes to historical accuracy that movie is pretty much ridiculous. Then again, so was My Darling Clementine and I thought that film was great. Don't know just didn't care for it much.

There's the makings of a new thread in that. How far may an historical movie depart from actual history and still remain a good movie? From what I've read of Sir Thomas More, A Man For All Seasons is historical rubbish, but it's still a fine film.

It's probably impossible to find out the real facts behind the OK Corral. Maybe that's what makes it such a great source of excellent cinema.

There's the makings of a new thread in that. How far may an historical movie depart from actual history and still remain a good movie? From what I've read of Sir Thomas More, A Man For All Seasons is historical rubbish, but it's still a fine film.

It's probably impossible to find out the real facts behind the OK Corral. Maybe that's what makes it such a great source of excellent cinema.

I just read this today as a matter off fact.

A lot has been made of the discrepancies in the film, My Darling Clementine from actual history. Firstly, this film was not made as a documentary. Secondly, John Ford made 16 silent westerns and met and discussed the shootout at the O.K. Corral with Wyatt Earp. Yes, that right, the real Wyatt Earp. < trying to put on my best cowboy accent > "His insights are much better than some egg-head historian, dag-nabbitt' "

I just read this today as a matter off fact.

A lot has been made of the discrepancies in the film, My Darling Clementine from actual history. Firstly, this film was not made as a documentary. Secondly, John Ford made 16 silent westerns and met and discussed the shootout at the O.K. Corral with Wyatt Earp. Yes, that right, the real Wyatt Earp. < trying to put on my best cowboy accent > "His insights are much better than some egg-head historian, dag-nabbitt' "

Actually, I just finished a paper on Wyatt Earp and the famous gunfight on film. I examined My Darling Clementine, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and Tombstone. Tombstone is the most historically accurate. There is a pretty good description of what actually happened from an eyewitness in the Tombstone Epitaph from the day after the gunfight. Also, although Wyatt Earp did actually talk to Ford, Ford exaggerated the relationship he had with Earp and what Earp told him. Earp likely exaggerated himself as he did while helping Stuart Lake write his "official" biography, which has been dismissed by historians as pretty much being bullspit. The truth is, it's pretty much impossible to make a 15-30 second gunfight entertaining on screen. I'd be glad to share my findings in their entirety to anyone interested.

Actually, I just finished a paper on Wyatt Earp and the famous gunfight on film. I examined My Darling Clementine, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and Tombstone. Tombstone is the most historically accurate. There is a pretty good description of what actually happened from an eyewitness in the Tombstone Epitaph from the day after the gunfight. Also, although Wyatt Earp did actually talk to Ford, Ford exaggerated the relationship he had with Earp and what Earp told him. .

Yeah...Tombstone is probably the most accurate..all over in 30 seconds..and the Earps pretty much provoked the Clantons and their gang into the fight.

My point exactly!

Tombstone, which I love, and also The Hour Of The Gun recreate the event most accurately . . . but are their versions better cinema than the ten-minute-plus battle in Gunfight At The OK Corral with Burt and Kirk?

I've never seen Doc, the super-revisionist version with Stacey Keach. Anyone know if it was any good?

Let me quickly draw everyone's attention to the 1988 movie Sunset, where the ageing Wyatt Earp finds himself in Hollywood as advisor on Tom Mix films. He even gets to help with one about the OK Corral. Having drawn your attention, I'd also advise you to avoid it 'cos it's pretty poor.

Tombstone is my favorite version too, Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday is fantastic.

The only good thing about Sunset was James Garner.

I think I liked Tombstone best too, but My Darling Clementine is a close second....

I've heard about Doc, that film actually depicts Wyatt Earp as a villain... I wanted to take a look at it for my research, but i couldn't get a hold of it

I saw 'Doc' years ago on a double feature (yes, THAT long ago)..I remember quite enjoying it at the time and thinking it was quite 'gritty' for a western...although at this time I cannot remember a thing about the film itself...

This is pretty interesting...another guy in my class wrote a similar paper, but he used General Custer on film instead of Wyatt Earp... he used Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), and Little Big Man (1970).... pretty stark differences in the portrayal of Custer from the 1940s films to 1970.

As far as films about politics go, Ford's The Last Harrah (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051845/) (1958) is pretty good.

And let's not forget Wee Willy Winkie. Which is actually quite good.